IU Health: New downtown hospital about 25% complete and on schedule
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Indiana University Health’s new, $4.3 billion downtown hospital construction project is about 25% complete and is on schedule to open in late 2027.
Officials with IU Health gave what they called a “summer update” on Wednesday and sounded optimistic about the project, one of the most expensive in Indiana history.
The complex will stretch across a 40-acre site just south of IU Health’s century-old Methodist Hospital, at West 16th Street and North Capital Avenue. Construction work on the new hospital is underway, with patients set to move in near the end of 2027.
The hospital, which has yet to be named, will consolidate the existing Methodist Hospital and University Hospital, about 1.5 miles southwest, on the IUPUI campus.
The eight-block expansion will extend IU Health’s footprint south to 12th Street and from Capital Avenue to Interstate 65.
A large advantage to the new hospital will be a more efficient layout, said Dr. Ryan Nagy, president of the adult academic health center. Unlike Methodist or University hospitals, which were built decades ago and expanded in piecemeal fashion, the new hospital will be more vertical, making things closer together, despite more than 2 million square feet of space.
“The ease of going through the building is greatly improved,” Nagy said. “From any spot in the building, you can get to an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in less than two minutes.”
The third floor of the hospital will contain the relocated Simon Cancer Center, now near the IUPUI campus.
IU Health officials on Wednesday said that once the new hospital opens, neither Methodist nor University hospital will continue with any clinical functions. That said no plans have been made for the buildings.
The complex will include a medical office building, a support building that will contain parking, a utility plant and retail space. It will also be home to the Indiana University School of Medicine’s education and research building.
The hospital, which has yet to be named, will have three patient towers that rise 16 floors. Altogether, it will contain 864 beds and 50 operating rooms.
The project broke ground in 2022 and workers have spent the first few years moving earth and working on systems and support buildings.
“We are definitely on schedule,” said James Mladucky, IU Health’s vice president of design and construction. “And we’re hoping to improve that even more. So you know, the weather has really cooperated over the last couple of years. We’ve had very mild winters, which helps a lot.”
He added: “And we’ve got great commitment from our construction partners. we’ve got the workers on site that we need. Not that we don’t need more. Don’t get me wrong, but good response from the local community, really getting behind this project.”
The architect for the hospital is Indianapolis-based Curis Design, a collaboration of BSA LifeStructures, RATIO Design and CSO Architects. HOK serves as the executive architect.
The construction manager is a joint venture of locally based Wilhelm Construction and Gilbane Building Co. of Providence, Rhode Island.